MUNCIE, Ind. - The Ball State indoor track & field team will compete in its final tune-up before the 2013 Mid-American Conference Indoor Championships Friday, when it hosts the Ball State Quadrangular starting at 5 p.m. in the Field Sports Building.

In addition to the Cardinals, Northern Illinois, Miami and Western Michigan will compete in the four-team scored event. Scoring will be based on a 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 scale, with only two participants from each school able to score in an event. Action in the meet begins with the field events, while running events are slated to start at 6:15 p.m.

Last season, the Cardinals placed third among the four teams at the meet, while Western Michigan captured its eighth consecutive title in Ball State's annual home meet. Prior to WMU's run of eight-straight wins, the Cardinals were the last team to capture the title during the 2003-04 season.

Heading into the final meet before the MAC Indoor Championships, Ball State is looking to continue its string of impressive individual performances on its home course as the team's student-athlete make their last push to post automatic qualifying marks for the league' premier event.

So far this season, senior MaryKate Mellen has qualified for both the mile run (4:54.50) and the 3000m run (9:54.44), while freshman Katelyn DeVries has qualified for the 5000m run (17:30.74).

With the field per event being limited to 20 participants, several other Cardinals are in the hunt to qualify for the meet. In the high jump, sophomore Haley Austin ranks eighth in the MAC by clearing a height of 1.67m/5-5.75.

Freshman Zenée Gadson enters the week ranked 11th in the conference in the triple jump (11.39m/37-4.5), while sophomore Hannah Ciasto-Poor is 19th in the pole vault after posting the second-best individual mark in program history (3.50m/11-5.75) in each of her last two meets.